英文中每个月份的名称来历

英文中每个月份的名称来历

As the new year starts you might have recently bought a new diary or calendar and thought ‘Where do these words come from?’ –at least that’s what I did. There is also, of course, also the chance that you have been merrily scheduling in gym appointments and book clubs and all sorts of other details relating to New Year’s resolutions (have you kept yours so far?) but we’ll take the opportunity to add a resolution to your list： learn where we got the names for

all the months of the year. Spoilers：it’s a mix ture of gods, rulers, and numbers.

随着新的一年的开始，可能你最近又买了一本新的日记本或日历本，也许你会想：“日历上这些关于月份的词是从何而来的呢？”——至少我有这样的疑问。当然，也有可能你早已兴致勃勃地安排好了你的新年计划：去健身房锻炼，加入读书俱乐部以及其它各类活动（这些活动你现在还有坚持下去吗？）但借此机会，我们要给你的新年计划再加上一项：了解一年十二个月名称的来历。剧透一下：它们与神、统治者和数字都相关系。

January 一月

January is named after the Roman god Janus, who presided over doors and beginnings – appropriately enough, for the beginning of the year (though this is, as you will discover, not as straightforward as it seems). Indeed, Janus was usually depicted with two faces looking backwards and forwards, as is often characteristic of a new year; this also gave rise to the term Janus word for words that have two opposite meanings.

January是以罗马神话中双面神杰纳斯（Janus）的名字命名的。他负责司守门户以及万物的始末——作为一年的开始，他很适合（即使你

会发现，其实并没有那么直观）。事实上，杰纳斯通常以双面孔示人，一面回顾过去，一面注视未来，而这经常被视为新的一年的特征；这

也使得它的引申词组“Janus word”（双面词）表示兼有两种相反含

义的词。

February 二月

February is ultimately based on Latin februarius, from februa. In case that’s not helped things become clearer, februa was the name of a purification feast held on the 15th of this month. February is a divisive issue in modern pronunciation, with both Feb-yoo-ary and Feb-roo-ary being commonly heard.

February由拉丁语“februa”的衍生词“februarius”演变而来。可能这样说并没有解释得很清楚，这里再补充一下：“februa”是这个

月十五号举行的一场涤罪盛宴的名称。在现代英语(精品课)中，人们

对“February”的发音产生了分歧，最常听到的有两种，一种是

“Feb-yoo-ary”，还有一种是“Feb-roo-ary”。

March 三月

Which god gets a planet and a month named after him? You’ve guessed it： Mars. Why him? As the Oxford English Dictionary notes, ‘In ancient Rome several festivals of Mars took place in March, presumably in preparation for the campaigning season, since Mars was a god of war.’

有哪位神的名字既是一个星球的名字，又是一个月份的名字呢？你们

已经猜到了：马尔斯（Mars）。为什么是他？《牛津英语词典》上记载：“在古罗马时期，一些相关于马尔斯的节日都在三月举行，想必

是为了战争时期做准备，因为马尔斯是一位战神。”

April 四月

We know that the English word April comes from the Latin Aprillis, the fourth month of the ancient Roman calendar, but things are less clear after that. In Old English, April was also sometimes called Eastermonab, ‘Easter month’.

我们知道英文词汇“April”来源于拉丁语“Aprillis”，是古罗马日历的第四个月，但除此之外，我们就不太清楚了。在古英语中，四月有时也被称为“Eastermonth”，即“复活月”。

May 五月

The month is connected with the goddess Maia. Perhaps less well known now than the other deities with months named after them, Maia (in Greek mythology) was daughter of Atlas and mother of Hermes. She was considered a nurturer and an earth goddess, which may explain the connection with this springtime month. Although may is a common modal verb, the month and the word are unrelated.

这个月与玛雅女神（the goddess Maia）相关。与其他神相比，也许玛雅并没有那么为人们所熟知，在希腊神话中，她是阿特拉（Atlas）之女，同时也是赫尔墨斯（Hermes）之母。她被誉为养育者和大地女神，这或许能够解释为什么它是属于春季的月份。即使“may”经常被用作情态动词，但它与五月并没相关系。

June 六月

Having conceded one month to a Greek deity, we’re now back with the Romans： June is named after the ancient Roman goddess Juno, wife of Jupiter and goddess of marriage and childbirth. June was also once sometimes known as midsummer month.